Protective sporting gloves have been used in lacrosse, hockey and other similar contact sports for a long time. The gloves are designed to protect a wearer of the gloves from impacts from equipment used within the game (e.g., lacrosse sticks, hockey sticks, balls, pucks, skates, etc.), impacts between participants (e.g., stick checks, body checks, etc.), impacts with the playing surface (falls, dives, knock-downs, etc.), impacts from objects on and around the playing surface (e.g., lacrosse goals, hockey goals, boards, etc.) and the like. Also, the gloves can offer protection against vibrations and other stresses to a wearer's hands.
Gloves are designed to provide substantial protection to the participant's fingers, hands, wrists and lower forearms while maintaining as much flexibility within the glove as possible. Flexibility is desired by the wearer so as to impart freedoms of movement to the fingers, hand, wrists and lower forearms needed to properly participate in the sport while protection is required to reduce injury to the same.
Often as background gloves have been designed to increase protection for a wearer, a reduction in flexibility has followed from design elements such as the placement, size and configuration of protective elements as well as the materials chosen. Any reduction in flexibility can substantially reduce the effectiveness and level of play of a participant wearing such gloves. Conversely, often gloves designed to increase flexibility do so at the expense of protection and expose a wearer to a greater risk of injury. Breathability is another factor to take into account during glove design as excess perspiration and moisture can also affect a participant's performance.
There are several areas of the hand that need to maintain an increased level of flexibility and yet still need a high level of protection at the moment of impact. For example, these areas include dorsal portions of the fingers, the thumb, the hand and the wrist.